edited my post, i watched ep 7 last night. and yes, i have been watching it raw since first ep because i have no patience to wait for subs but i re-watch the ep once the subbed version is out. and in betwwen waiting time i make use of my limited knowledge of nihongo.

gauri92 wrote:ya well....their move to go private has not really helped in this case...i wonder wht else they can do other than stopping fansubbing....which will b absolutely sad.....

YES, you are right too. unfortunately only dedicated fans will suffer in this.

ok, back to Smile
just finished watching ep8. this drama is reallt going from strength to strength. so far it is my MOST favourite drama of this season. no drama can top smile.

Finally Vito is arrested and on trial. not sure how they are going to maintain its excitment because we will have more of court trials than everything else in future eps. most importantly no vito x hana scenes anymore. i really would be missing them.

could not see the importance of introducing each one of jury people in the end of ep. i guess we have to wait and see.

i don't think i hated anyone in a drama like i am hating that police guy here. maybe he is one of those guys like to see justice done but the way he is after vito and his smiles always makes me feel like he is hating vito at personal level.

i still need to know why he is always after vito. at the moment (with no subs/limited nihongo understanding) i see him as a racist police man that hates foreigners. i wanted to know his reasons for always being against vito.

as he was the one that actually made that over the top arrest of vito by sending armed policemen attacking the inn when vito was just about to give himself up when ito sensei went inside.
didn't he agreed to kazuma in the first place. he was only putting the act because i think this way, vito's sentence would be much longer and harder than if he came to police volunterly and with his own will. and of course he did not want that happen for vito at all.

yup...my lj is empty, and m part of communities but i don't really comment very often and the only reason i even have an lj account is to gain access.....but oh well, im giving up.....i dont think ill b able to watch teh subbed versions and will have to do with spoilers....

@ginto-gin
as i said before, my nihongo is limited. it also depends on the dramas. some are much easier to understand (like shiroi haru) and some are harder (like whatever being said in the court or by ito sensei defending vito).
but to be honest, i just can't wait till the subs are out. i need to know what happens and i am very impatient. so i just have to do with raws.

I can't blame those streaming site enough for starting the whole thing.

As another person who is into watching raws (no pesky english words gettin' in the way of my pure japanese experience! haha) I have to say that episode 8 was amazing. This show is both touching and keeps you enthralled the entire time! Now for the details...

The truth about Ito Kazuma that we all suspected has finally come out: he is Korean, though born/raised in Japan and doesn't speak Korean (strangely similar to Vito's case!) It turns out that whole subplot with that stylish looking ex-girlfriend of his, was only to reveal that their love lives were cut short when her parents (and his) were strongly opposed to marriage between her and Kazuma. At that time, he was still going by his Korean name, but after the breakup he changed his name to Ito Kazuma and hidden his roots ever since. He talked about how inconvenient it is to be a foreigner in Japan to Vito, and shared a similar "first-love" story from middle school about how a girl he had a crush on made fun of him for stinking of kimchi and this was quite a blow to his middle school self.

Kazuma's ex reveals this story to Shiori while Kazuma himself is telling this to the imprisoned Vito. Afterwards, Kazuma's ex says goodbye to Shiori and tells her that she plans to stay out of his life now -- just knowing he turned out to be a great guy is enough. She yoroshikus Shiori, so I guess we're supposed to get that a) the ex ain't coming back for episodes 9, 10, etc. and b) that Shiori and Kazuma need to end up together (there have been hints of this all along... I think it's gonna happen).

And, as we all guessed, the reason Kazuma didn't like Vito at first was that seeing him forced him to dwell on these old memories and deal with his own identity again -- something that he didn't really want to face.

could not see the importance of introducing each one of jury people in the end of ep. i guess we have to wait and see.

Based on the preview of next week's episode, I think we're going to get to know these 6 jurors pretty well. They are going to have a hard time deciding what to do, and their own personalities, backgrounds, prejudices, idiosyncrasies are going to come into play in determining Vito's fate.

At least, that's my take on it.

I hope they can keep up the excitement during the trial, but this show has proven itself worthy thus far, so I have faith they can do it.

Wow... I'm pretty shocked ep 08 had the lowest ratings until now...
To me, it was the best ep so far...
This just proves that high ratings don't mean a good drama.
I've seen another dramas of this season and no one can't beat Smile. Polemic, intelligent and touching... The typical genre of drama I like.

The dialogue between Bito and Kazuma-san was one of the best scene of this ep. Nakai's acting was brilliant. He talked about his past, revealed he is korean, which is why he understands Bito so much. He also said that only in Japan, there is a crime called "crime done by foreigners", which I didn't know yet. It's really a sad thing and pretty shameful (in my opinion) that a country have this kind of crime that shows how much Japan is still a very discriminatory country. Maybe that's why people turned off their TVs. It's hard to admit it.

shiruchan wrote:I've seen another dramas of this season and no one can't beat Smile. Polemic, intelligent and touching...
...
Maybe that's why people turned off their TVs. It's hard to admit it.

I haven't seen much criticism neither in japanese dramas nor in japanese movies. I mean, a movie really against the WWII (except Kabei) or against the death penalty or against the prison system or against prejudices. That's why Smile was interesting to me: not an independent movie but a tv show dares to talk about racism, injustice and stereotypes, in a world where stereotypes and clichés are the basis of a dorama.
Maybe the TV audience don't like to be upstream... because in Japan it is hard, they have too much sea all around No offense, we in Italy are very similar

I said it "was" interesting because I don't understand the japanese language and the english subtitles won't be available to me.

lo-chan wrote:I really wanted to watch it, tried to join ourhour but they rejected me (didn't even try the one where you have to write about arashi)
I wonder why the ratings are bad? They're all popular actors?

Well, all the Arashi fans are busy writing in that forum so they don't have time for the dorama

No offense for Arashi fans, I was joking
But the low ratings are not referred to last week only.
Smile : 11.7 -- 10.2 -- 12.3 -- 9.2 -- 11.0 -- 8.9 -- 10.1 -- 7.1
Not so low but less than average, at least higher than the previous Love Shuffle.
However, comparing how good it is (it was), adding the presence of popular actors, the ratings are way lower than expected. I know it is already said many times that ratings are getting lower nowadays for every dorama, that good dramas do not depend on ratings, that people only watch shows with idols in it... and so on. But in this case I think japanese audience does not like to deal with criticism.

Misato-san wrote:the rival for this week's Smile was a Ghibli movie, and every time a Ghibli movie is on tv it beats EVERYTHING ELSE. ç_ç

even if it was on tv many times before too?
surely i would have given it a miss if i was living in japan and watch the drama that i am following every week. no matter how much i love Ghibli movies.
i don't get japanese viewers sometime. (maybe most of times? )

Well, if there is anyone out there who can kinda translate Japanese to English, I can make soft subs. I never made them before, but I dooo have a problem that lets me make subtitles. I had to download it because I had subs in the past that kinda had to be converted or fixed. But I really would like to watch this drama, and want other people who aren't Arashi fans like me to watch this too. If one fansub group have restictions in watching it (mainly because you're not an Arashi fan) then why not some other people pick up on the series too? I wouldn't mind starting fro mthe first episode, and if no one wants to, we don't have to post the subs on d-addicts starting on epiosde 2 or 3. (since it's only a d-addict rule, not a fansub rule) If anyone is interested in attempting to translate........... I would love to try and make some soft subs!

But why would I have to ask someone for permission to sub a show? Like the previous person said, no one owns the right to sub a show that the claim first. That's like making a product, and only one company can produce it. Other companies produce similar items giving people a variety. Besides, who knows if I (and hopefully other people out there who wants to help >_<) would put the subs on d-addicts. Those rules only apply if you post them on d-addicts, not on your own blog or journal so Stormy has nothing to say if another group subs are somewhere else besides d-addicts (if they are not stolen from them then that's a different story. But it would be best to start from the beginning only if some new person sees the this series and wonder where are the first few episodes) I just would like to finish watching the show that I can understand, and instead of me (I'm not trying to offend anyone of doing this... I just can't find a better word?) whining that I can't watch the subs because of the joining of their group and their rules, then why not do sokething about it? If more people don't mind trying to do something about it and see if they can translate, it shouldn't be a problem. Lots of people on this site watch the Raws and then the subs becasue they can't wait to for the subbed release, and many of them get the gist and can kinda understand what the characters are saying. If those people people don't mind translating... That's all I'm just saying.

If anyone is out there interested with trying to make new subs for this show, you can.. uh.. I guess Pm me since my email isn't on my profile... ^_^U Then we can discuss if we should post them on d-addicts, make a new JL and post them there... I just would like to watch the series too, and instead of just lying and making some BS about Arashi or something (because I'm not a fan of Arashi, and I hate joining so many groups and I know I won't be a poster or an active person, and it just feels wrong on my part) I only wanna help ;___;

lo-chan wrote:I really do understand why the subbers don't want to see their dramas on streaming sites.

Please! The streaming site issue is only a pretext! The episode 3 isn't here but it's already on streaming sites.
Stormy clearly stated that they are sharing their subs only with those who are watching the show for Arashi (meaning, if they find out that you also like Gakki or you are enjoying the plot, you're out of their community )

@«minah» Smile is done in a month, so once it is then there isn't anything anyone can say to you about it, because if two teams can do Anmitsu Hime, then why can't ttwo do Smile? BTW if you get someone to translate it then I might be in with helping you to encode and upload it. I am working on learning timing too.

Last edited by wmcnair370 on Jun 10th, '09, 15:53, edited 1 time in total.

ariz wrote:The modified "competition clause" rationale
This was actually added into the update last year, but I don't think it quite sunk in with everybody... Just what does this mean? It means that different groups can work on the same series even if one group announced their intentions before the other. No more "claiming" for series (on the condition that all subtitled series must be uploaded in sequence, starting from the first episode... Which is in accordance with the other rules already established on this site.)

then i truly believe that above modifications have not been noticed by fansubers. ok, i don't want to sound demanding and i really appreciate all the hard work and affords of subbers and i know what a hard job and time consuming task it is.

at the end of the day, fansubbers only pick up projects that interest them (and i given them all the right to do so because they are doing this job for free ) so fans really can't chose which project to be subbed.

for a drama like Smile, its hard to believe that only one fansub group wanted to do it. ignoring the fact that jun is an arashi member, he is one of those actors that his dramas gets subbed most of the times and by various groups. SARS and JTV and Nya did their own versions of HYD. so this was happening before.

but recently i have noticed that once a drama is picked by one group, other group just cross it from their list to do page. of course you can't force fansub groups, but i am thinking, if they are also interested in a drama that is being subbed by a group, they might as well make their own version.

saying the above, i also read so many post by people on threads where different groups where subbing the same drama, and people where complaining "why they are wasting their time and do someother drama instead" which i thought was kind of rude considering all the hard works of subbers.

Well, I bet you could help Issy! I mean, I'm limited to Japanese too, but I know a few phrases and words. We can put our limitedness together! And I really like the show a lot too, even if Jun wasn't in the sereis. I like the subject it touches on which I think worldwide people can relate to and I would really like to watch this drama. I think there are very very few dramas that talk about ethnicity and such.. really the only thing I remember watching is Go, which is just a movie. But yeah, I'm really into the story than the actual cast. (And actually Jun looks really creepy with a tan... so... I hope he gets/got rid of it soon/already!) I think it's always exctiting when a network makes race-related shows becasue well, they recgonize that it is an issue and it brings awareness!

How do the different fansub groups "claim" a drama? I'm not familiar with how this happens, so maybe someone could point me to a thread that explains it. And, do all these fansub groups upload to d-addicts, or at least make their subs publicly accessible? It seems like if Stormy is only releasing their subs to a niche group (members of their own community) that it effectively hasn't been claimed by any groups who make their subs available to the public. I don't watch subbed versions so I'm not totally up to speed on the different dynamics going on here, but I want other people to be able to enjoy this drama with me, so I want to understand what's going on

quandary wrote:The writers of this are really heavy handed with the discrimination aspect, but that can be forgiven if they don't beat it to death. What I don't like is they've made Vito a blubbering ball of protoplasm. No one who's survived street gang membership and jail time would be like that, he would have been eaten alive. They've written the character so weak and stupid that I'm having a hard time sympathizing with him. For example, he observes a celebrity buying drugs and is shocked into insensibility. Is there anyone left in the world that would be surprised by that, given that we see it on the news nearly every day? The acting performances, OTOH, are first rate, given what they have to work with, so I'll stick with it for a while.

First, this TBS dorama is getting on my nerves. It's total BS. I can't believe that a Japanese person actually wrote this dorama. Has he lived in a bubble or warped world all this time? Japan is nothing like what's being portrayed by this dorama. If I were Japanese, I'd be even more pissed. If anything, the family that the protagonist lives with is more representative of how Japanese people really are. Japanese people don't hate foreigners. They don't go around labeling people as Filipino or Chinese or Vietnamese in a negative tone. It's the freaking liberal, western-minded media who are taking things out of context. So those who've never immersed themselves in Japanese society shouldn't assume anything or accept stories as fact without proper experience.

The police is portrayed as hasty, overbearing and brutal in episode one, which is somewhat true - and especially of major crime units that deal with yakuza and drugs - but not only to foreigners. I personally know that they mistreat Japanese the same way they mistreat anyone else. My Japanese brother-in-law is a sommelier and late one night while walking home after work at a restaurant in Ginza a gang of guys who were up to no good bumped into him to try and extort some money, not knowing that he learned boxing during high school. He resisted and a fight broke out. Witnesses of the incidence and ensuing melee called the police. When the police arrived, they arrested and threw everyone into jail. During the interrogation, my brother-in-law was physically abused and accused of being a yakuza without hearing all sides of the story. Long story short: If they think you are a criminal, they will treat you like one regardless of your background. So what they are doing to Vito is not protocol but an elaborate and failed attempt by the screenwriter to get his message of false hate across. They're verbally abusive and wrong, but they're not targeting any specific race. They just want to prosecute the culprit/perpetrator; Vito happens to be half-Filipino. And considering his past, a gang member - be it voluntarily or forced - and not just some innocent poor kid, you can't blame them. So the reality of racism is being distorted by the screenwriter.

Second, M. Jun's character is too annoying. He has an inferiority complex and thinks the world is against him while he is surrounded by such caring people. I can't sympathize with that train of thought. We'll learn more of his past and get to see more self-inflicted injustices as the story progresses, I am sure. But you don't run away from the police no matter how much distrust you have in the system and especially if you are falsely accused. There are injustices but Japan is a democracy. The truth (of the first case), in the end, will be revealed (in episode 2). As quandary pointed out, portraying Vito as a weak and pathetic person is not gonna get people's empathy or sympathy. If anything, there'll be backlash and no one will watch this show. We'll have to watch the entire dorama to see how the story pans out, but the approach so far is subjective and not constructive at all. It's beyond surreal that it's becoming anticlimactic after only two episodes.

Third, A. Yui is way too cute in this dorama. However, her character's temporary muteness is kinda frustrating. Vito helped her before that's why she's gravitating towards him. I think the little girl whose backpack he retrieves is Hana, wearing pony tails then and now. The normal Vito matches fine with her, but not the self-pitiful one.

Fourth, Kazuma probably is a half-breed like Vito. Kazuma took the low road; whereas, Vito took the high road. The screenwriter is probably trying to contrast between the "proper and accepted" half-breed versus the mischievous and troubled one.

Lastly, after two episodes I have mix feelings. On the one hand, I want to rate this dorama an F for the failed effort to address Japan's immigration policies in an underhanded way. On the other hand, without all the overblown race issues this dorama is pretty appealing. The story based on race is already exaggerated and I think having M. Jun plays this character is making it looks even more unrealistic. He just doesn't fit the frail and feeble-minded role or as leading man. I guess that's the annoying part. It's like I am watching Kimi wa Petto all over. I know it's the stories but having two attractive female co-stars and Jun as the leading man is just...laughable.

Well, I can help with the timed subs.
I'm a part of a fansub and we've done until ep 08 (in Portuguese).
But that's all I can do to help you people who want to sub it in English.
Sadly, I don't know English enough to help with translation, it's already hard to translate it into Portuguese... But I'll try my best to explain to English translators if you've got some doubts.

Anyway, PM me if you (or any fansub group) want the subs. I really think Smile is too good to not have subs of it. So, here's my offer.

we really need to go back to drama discussion. we keep getting off topic in here.

i just watched ep 9. i thought i won't like it as much as i loved ep8 but i think it was another great ep. and my admiration for kiechi Nakai is getting more and more. he is just one brilliant actor.

i think we can guess why hana disappeared after Vito's jail sentence. Thanks to ito sensei's great defance of Vito, most of jury people where sympathising with him, specially after his statement about hayashi.

Hyashi defended Vito by attacking the person that was calling him phillipino bastard (sorr for the language but as it is said in previous eps) and then told vito that no matter he is from, it does not make any difference for him. that's why vito felt protected by Hayashi and he could never harm him in any way.

but at that day, he saw that hayashi was attacking hana-chan and he had to defend his most important person. and when Hayashi challenged him by telling him that he can not kill him and called him by that name, he thought as Hayashi as those people who have bullied him through his life. that's why without thinking just pulled the trigger.

and finally, hana-chan started talking again. as she was question by the Hayashi's defendant lawyer, she was able to break that silence and talk again.

but the lawyer ( OMG, i just hate this guy with passion ) used a dirty trick of revealing hana's true identity and from the look of it, her father was a public enemy number one for years, therefore most of jury's had a second and different image of vito and hana.

i think this is the reason for hana's disappearnace. because she sees herself that main reason why Vito is jailed.

it seems that Hayashi's mom will be in court next week. i really can't wait for next ep.
btw, does anyone knows how many eps is Smile?

This was a good episode -- it actually went really fast and was way more intense than I thought just a court case would be.

Are we supposed to know who Hana's dad was? I didn't recognize the name. Obviously something publicly humiliating, like you said Issy, happened and probably that's what traumatized her. I think it's really interesting all the different prejudices that are coming into play with the jury and their opinions on the case. Even from the very beginning, that one guy on the jury said that Vito's still a foreigner since he's Philippino, and one of the women outright said that that's just his own prejudice...

Also, yay for hana-chan talking! When she was like "chigaimasu!" so strongly, and didn't even realize what she'd said until after it came out of her mouth... well it was pretty moving I thought!

don't know if anybody know this but somehow, the writer for smile been change. i read from kikini vox that Shinozaki Eriko(Kurosagi, Daisuki) will take charge of the last two ep. of smile. seriously i don't like this, i kind of like the way smile is going.

a2a wrote:Just watched ep 10 & in the preview they don't say 11 is going to be the last. If it was they'd definately say it. Maybe there's twelve?

Though 11 still feels like the last ep...

I can't believe he was given the death penalty & that he accepted it! I don't want him to be executed! Noooooooooooooooo!

that is what i was confused about
from what i see with preview, he was kind of taken to death sentense.
but can a death penalty longs for 5 years? i still can believe what i saw yesterday. it was sucn a emotional ep yet again.

i remember in one of eps Ito sensei said that this jail sentense would be the begining of Vito's life because he actually has a goal in mind when he is out. so i am taking his words.

the sentense will change for sure. otherwise, they would have excuted him within months or maybe a year and not make him wait 5 years for it.

hana to loose her voice again after she is out of court room was just too much to accept. why they just can't give us some happy moments in this dra,a? i really hope the ending would be kind of happy otherwise is just too much to take when you watch this drama.

it was so heartfelt when Vito said that he thought Hayashi was just like him. they felt the same pain when they were kids.
but did the Hayashi's mom said something like "she wished Hayashi was dead or something" and that he was a bully?

oh my god, so only one ep left for Smile? i will miss it for sure. it was this season's best drama.

Hayashi's mom told that she would prefer to be murdered instead of Hayashi. And that she wouldn't like Vito to kill him.

I'm pretty worried about ep 11. If Vito really dies, I would feel it was a waste of time watching this drama. I truly think this is the best drama os this season until now, but this feeling would dissapear if Vito dies. Otherwise, what for did he live with a smile on the face? What's the meaning of this drama title? And what kind of message it will pass to us? I'll feel like "it doesn't matter how much you try your best, it doesn't worth to live smiling even if your life was sad, at the end of the day you'll lose anyway."

That's definitely not the message I was expecting to see while watching this drama.

By the way, I was touched by Nakai's acting. His final speech was soooo good.

@shiruchan
thanks alot dear for explaination. and I am with you on the message that drama will give

if Vito is about to die. it would be a really disappointment because even though we have to know that we live in real world but i thought the whole idea of this drama is about a man who tried to live his life positive and with smile even though he has been living in a world, full of discrimination and injustice.
I still have my hopes high on a happy ending for Vito and Hana. i am still holding to Ito sensei's words.
they always make the preview look like nothing we expecting from the drama to keep its viewers.

it seem that vito is the one that send hana away. he don't want to see her and told the guard not to admit her in. this goes in with what he said at the end of ep. 10, use the death punishment to atone his crime. he ending everything, and the book and many thing that nakai send to vito, wanting him to regain that passion again. but it seem vito is accepting his fate.

To everyone who said they will be upset if Vito is killed in the end... why does it matter? I mean, yes that would end the drama on a darker note, but this show has had a lot of darkness to it. A happy ending wouldn't erase all the bad things that have happened to Vito because of chance and discrimination, but an unhappy ending would highlight all the unfairness and leave you feeling that things truly are unfair sometimes...

I guess since it doesn't change the previous 10 episodes, which I have enjoyed, I don't really care either way what the ending is. Crappy endings to good dramas suck, but I try not to let it ruin an entire show... maybe that's just me.

I also thought Ito's final speech during the trial was sooo good. Meccha kandou!!

I didn't want to start the subs discussion again... I simply said I envy those who can watch the show when it's aired or the raw when it comes out.
I'm watching it with portuguese subs and I'm up to episode 8. My english isn't good enough to help with the translation.
But I'm following the discussion and reading the spoilers and I'm worried about the final episode because I heard something about forgiveness and such... I want to know asap that everything is going ok for Bito

I already wanted to skip episode 8 because I didn't want to see that situation. I already cried too much for the last episode of My Boss My Hero but there Makio wasn't risking his life like Bito.
Happy ending means there is redemption and there's hope even for a murder if it was accidental and prejudices can be overcome: these concepts are important for the show and a sad ending in my eyes will affect the entire series.
If there is no happy ending I don't want to watch the endig at all

while sad ending emphasis more on the unfairness the foreign living in japan. but i think happy ending gave hope. it is too sad and depressing if vito die. the title of the drama will be very ironic. continue to smile, smile to the end knowing you living in the the world of discrimination. go on through life with a smile. that what i want to see.

i think it really matters if this drama has a sad ending or happy ending.

sad ending means there is no hope in this world. even if you try your best to redeme yourself from whatever you have done wrong in the past, world around you is not forgiving. people will not recognise your efforts. you still going to be treated as criminal. even thought it was the soceity's fault to get you in the wrong path of life in the first place.
you will be discriminated because you are not purebreed of that country. no matter how much you smile and try to do your best, it does not matter. so it is the best for you just to die.

happy ending (and i am not even demanding a cheesy happy ending) means, that there is always hope in this world. if you presistant in redeming yourself, there is happy moment waiting for you. life is not just about hurt and discrimination. you can expereince love and happiness in this world no matter who are you and where you come from.

i know, sad ending just makes it a drama with a dark theme. and actually lots of these descrimination and injustice happens in every part of the world. but does this kind of ending will open people's eyes more or make them more depressed and hopless.

japanese viewers had already hard time accepting its descrimination against non-japanese theme to begin with.
ending it with vito dying, would give even a worse image of japan and japanese people to the world. with current financial problems in japan and everywhere, i don't think this is the image they want to show of their country.

i started watching this drama because of its theme and i wanted to see a man's struggle through all these hardship to stay positive and earn his happiness through his hard work. i am not so sure if it was the message they wanted me to get, through out this drama. but i feel like majority of viewers have the same feeling. so with that sort of ending, i will feel huge disappointment.

Hayashi's father showed up and he was resolutive. And they changed the charge... and so... I'm so happy, there is a scene on 2018 and Vito is released and Hana-chan opened a restaurant called Smile and... I'm still on shock ^______________^

Hayashi's father showed up and he was resolutive. And they changed the charge... and so... I'm so happy, there is a scene on 2018 and Vito is released and Hana-chan opened a restaurant called Smile and... I'm still on shock ^______________^

Thanks alot Misato-san.

I am so relieved now. and happy.
can't wait to see it when i am back from work.
Thank god that ended Happily. it had to. ne?
it is now officially one of my most favourite drama of all times.

OH MY GOD, I was crying the whole time. it was such an emotional ep. and wonderful ending. i still need to watch it again.
so those first few minutes in ep1 was his supposed last days? the scenes between him and hana were just too good. hana-chan finally started talking again.

i am still not so sure on why Hayashi's father was hidden and finally became homless. i understood this bit that they charged Vito instead of his son when hayashi killed a man in gangster fight. and why Hayashi's lawyer actually told ito sensei about where to find his father. i really did not understand his look when he was told by other police guy that Ito is looking for Hayashi's father.

i am still thinking that finding hayashi's father on the last night of vito's life and police man running to break the news to others when they just about to excute Vito, a bit of cliche but i am really not complaining. anything just to have a happy ending. it would have been an unbearable drama to watch if he was to die by the end.

and it was so great to see Ito sensei acknowledging his culture and going back to his root and use his korean name from now on.

but i have to say, i was shocked to see Vito in 2018. jun/vito looked like completely different person. and grwon up hana-chan was very cute.
i am still so emotional about ending, when you notice yourself that you are watching it with smiley face and teary eyes as misato-san said.

i also wondered about change of script writers. if the writer stayed the same, would the ending be any different from what we got? or both writers more or less has a same ending in their minds? i guess we can never know now.

Takuma-san-like. In his stories there is a good amount of psychology and drama - I'm thinking about Hanadan, which is not an original story I know but it's filled by some themes he loves, and Utahime) - but he has hope in his mind. All the time. The concept of Smile as a human love story with people searching for a good reason to smile to me looks completely something he can wrote... I don't know why they used a different scriptwriter for the last two episodes but I fell like not betrayed at least in the part about how the story develops. I need the subs to judge some parts better but the feeling is good to me.

I agree with Issy about the classic clique' of the last time resolution but I loved it anyway... and I was very afraid about the fact that Vito was dead at that time while watching

so I was able to feel real emotions thanks to this story and I'm really happy about that.

I guess I didn't feel *that* emotionally about the ending (I actually didn't cry once during this episode -- I must be heartless ). Admittedly, it's because I miss a lot of the lawyer lingo and didn't quite get the legal reasons why Vito ended up not being killed.

Apparently Hayashi's dad had to cooperate in some shape or form...I guess my complaint about this last minute saves-the-day moment is that it was indeed rather cliche and predictable.

However, it would have been really unbearably sad to see Vito killed, so it is relieving to see they did it this way. His "last day" was very touching, with him folding the last pig out of the MLK article, and writing that letter to Hana.

and it was so great to see Ito sensei acknowledging his culture and going back to his root and use his korean name from now on.

That was a cute touch

And Vito did look soo different in 2018!! (Well, I guess we'll all look different in 2018 >_< )
The last scene at the restaurant stand was so cute!

The last line summed up the theme of the show:

"The important thing is to never give up, and keep fighting. One thing's for sure -- you are never alone."
(well, that's my attempt at a translation at least .... >_< )

AhMeD1LoT wrote:since it is the final EP came and you discussed about it, just close the thread and forget that there was a drama called smile and move on

a drama discussion thread does NOT get closed simple because the drama has ended. it stays open for who ever wants to give it a try.
you never know, maybe the subs were out one day. it's good to keep positive.
but Smile is one unforgetable drama with or without subs. i just hope that everyone can enjoy it as much as i did.

OH MY GOD, I was crying the whole time. it was such an emotional ep. and wonderful ending. i still need to watch it again.
so those first few minutes in ep1 was his supposed last days? the scenes between him and hana were just too good. hana-chan finally started talking again.

i am still not so sure on why Hayashi's father was hidden and finally became homless. i understood this bit that they charged Vito instead of his son when hayashi killed a man in gangster fight. and why Hayashi's lawyer actually told ito sensei about where to find his father. i really did not understand his look when he was told by other police guy that Ito is looking for Hayashi's father.

i am still thinking that finding hayashi's father on the last night of vito's life and police man running to break the news to others when they just about to excute Vito, a bit of cliche but i am really not complaining. anything just to have a happy ending. it would have been an unbearable drama to watch if he was to die by the end.

and it was so great to see Ito sensei acknowledging his culture and going back to his root and use his korean name from now on.

but i have to say, i was shocked to see Vito in 2018. jun/vito looked like completely different person. and grwon up hana-chan was very cute.
i am still so emotional about ending, when you notice yourself that you are watching it with smiley face and teary eyes as misato-san said.

i also wondered about change of script writers. if the writer stayed the same, would the ending be any different from what we got? or both writers more or less has a same ending in their minds? i guess we can never know now.

I'll try to help you with your doubts!

Hayashi's dad lost his high position on police, and apparently, he had a company and even lost it because of Hayashi. Remember? Hayashi's dad had taken all responsability when Hayashi went to jail. Because all of this, he became homeless.

When you said "Hayashi's lawyer" you meant Kitagawa, the prosecutor? If so, he looked surprised because he didn't know that Hayashi was the real killer and not Vito. He said to Kazuma when he appeared on his office: "I just wanted to judge the thuth". So, he really thought that Vito was the murderer in the 2000 case. Otherwise, I believe he wouldn't go to Ito's office to tell him where Hayashi's dad was.

I loved the ending, even with the cliche thing. But I was really thinking that Vito would die and was even preparing myself to go to Smile's official HP and complain about the ending. Thank God he survived, otherwise I would be really pissed. I don't quite know if changing the writers was a good thing though. I don't think either that the previous writer would kill Vito, and I really liked his script. I felt the last 2 eps were a lit bit cheesy if compared to the previous ones. But, anyway, Smile was a pretty good drama and surely is now on my top favorite dramas. It made me think about a lot of things.

so basically kitagawa was very much under influnece Furuse who knew the truth but hiding it. right? because he decided to help Ito sensei after his talk with Furuse and he had that smirk on his face that meant he knew Vito was innocent.

Yes. I LOVED the ending even if it was a bit on cliche and cheesy side. there could not be any other ending. Loved the time shown in 2018. but did not like how vito looked. but hana-chan looked so good.

just started watching smile last night and nani kore??? whats this!!! nakai kichii/ito kazuma is choo good in acting, soo natural~ first time seeing him yet greatly attached to him!! brilliant!

and shun....WOW!!! *speechless* hontouni a true badaass, i mean he kicked gakky without any compassion at all as if he really wnted to kill her right tht moment!! kakkkkkkkkkkkooooiii (and blonde shun? kyaargh!!:D)

and gakky!....err well, it does make me wonder if such a girl really exist? skippy dipply walking like tht as if its normal (its not normal when u skipped EVRYtime u walk rite??, at least i thought so) and soo persistent in getting her man eventhough few times matsujun virtually rejected her (hands in pocket and such). on the bright side! hey! she IS PERFECT for matsujun! matsujun, PLEASEJUST GO AND MARRY HER! no, seriously, they look mecha good together, i mean its true mtsujun and mao had a superb chemistry in hyd but they err...doesnt really suits each other physically isnt it?? (one is tall, the other is slightly short, one is skinny minny, the other one is slightly...ok, got it?) but matsujun and gakky is such a good pair and would make a good one too if in real life , really really

Jun is one of those actors that tends to have great chemistry with his co-stars. you always wonder if something more happening behind the curtains between them.
remembering Jun x Mao in HYD, Jun x Kyoki in KWP, Jun x Yuki in Gokusen.

yeah, he does. lovely man he is.
btw, don't you think matsujun in smile, tried very hard to cry but tears hardly came down, i mean drop by drop, errr...how do i say this,
all the face expressions, emotions and sounds*sobbing* are there, but the tears are not pouring down as it shouldve been...but its okay anyway, cause hes

Some JDrama uploading blog just claimed that he will be posting the first few episodes of SMILE hardsubbed within 24 hours.

I wun give him free advertising yet. But I'll let everyone know if he actually post past the first 2 episodes.

EDIT: He DID upload them!
Mod Edit: I compared the hardsub from the link with Stormy's subs. The subtitles are the same. I think they took the twitter ripped softsub and put their own credit on the filename